UPS Question

[HardAttack]

UPS : Universal Power Supply

I am living in an environment, computers are everywhere, office, home, etc sort...
Thing is, i have never used an UPS my own, the instution i am working has got it but it is not an UPS but it is a electric generator, therefore, as long as you supply the oil for it, it will provide you the electric power u need.

My question on the other hand, for those who might have had interest, or who might have already used and have exprience and knowledge over UPS...
An avarage UPS, how long does it stay alive in case you only, nothing else, just plug the Laptop pls...
I am not asking a spesific name, product name, not saying a spesific UPS/Laptop....Just talking out general...

May i expect 6 hours of supply for a Laptop out of an avarage UPS ?

thank you

[2dimes]

A universal power supply is not what you are looking for. They are basically just a transformer used to convert 120 volt alternating current to a lower voltage direct current, so you can plug something in that otherwise would use batteries, they require power to work.

It seems like you want an uninterruptible power supply.

Two different things. They both come in different sizes, cost and quality.

Back in the 1990s often they were only there so you could save your work and shut down the computer during a power failure but batteries are much better now. I once removed a large lead acid battery bank powered UPS from a fertilizer plant that could probably power your laptop for over a year. The room holding the batteries was rather huge. They were replacing it with one about 1/3 of the size.

https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/uninte ... er-supply/


Update :
Looks like even with better batteries for under $5000 you are looking at pretty short power back up times.

https://www.bit.com.au/news/how-long-wi ... out-316806

If you have a really low power requirement on a laptop, you might get a partial charge on the units battery, that might stretch out the time.

Generators are nice except they are a bit inefficient because they use a lot of fuel. Also you could die if you run it indoors.

https://powerequipment.honda.com/genera ... generators
That is the US website, Honda has different websites for many countries.

[HardAttack]

Great ideas 2dimes, thank you, this helps

[2dimes]

You're welcome.

I'm actually surprised those UPS units are not better. You can run a laptop off an RV battery and an inverter for quite a while. I guess you don't want an acid battery in your house, but I thought they might have battery banks for UPS units with much more standby than ten minutes.

[HardAttack]

You're welcome.

I'm actually surprised those UPS units are not better. You can run a laptop off an RV battery and an inverter for quite a while. I guess you don't want an acid battery in your house, but I thought they might have battery banks for UPS units with much more standby than ten minutes.

i am surprised to hear that an UPS would likely run flat right in some tenish minutes,
was expecting to keep my laptop alive for say 3-4 hours....the battery laptop has achieves that while an UPS fails to do so....surprised...

RV battery, good idea but not so practical for my home office, yep...

My next laptop purchase, the prior parameter to search for which laptop to buy probably is going to be stand by time...
I am also going to try to purchase for a backup laptop battery to double up stand by time.....i guess they dont sell the batteries alone, do they ?

[2dimes]

Yeah, I agree. The problem seems to be inefficient voltage changes, an inverter needs quite a bit of power to provide the alternating current at 120 volts. The vehicle style batteries are only 12 volts but they are capable of a nice high amperage so they can last longer.

There are some battery suppliers that sell spare batteries for some laptops. You might be even able to find one on Amazon.